Wednesday, 17 April 2013

When the CEO hands round a sponsorship form....

There seems to be a few more people who have been bitten by the running bug in the office. That's great and most unexpected was a sponsorship form landing on my desk from the Chief. It's a Race for Life form, so I think this is a women's race (or run, jog etc) and probably about 5km.

Getting this sponsorship form put me in a quandary. I was not the first in line, some of my colleagues had already committed themselves, some quite generously. And so this left me with a few options:

Option 1
Follow the example set by more senior colleagues and be gushingly generous. Could this help me climb the greasy pole? Do I want to even try the greasy pole? Could this be a career move? Could I end up becoming the office creep? Could I be someone who supports the Chief in her running and helping to set an example for others in supporting a good cause; in doing so might encourage others to run also? Let's face it, there's a few who could truly benefit, if you get my drift.

Option 2
Pass it on without doing anything, hoping nobody will notice. The Chief has spotted that flaw in advance by including a circulation list which you tick your name once you've had it. Will undoubtedly be spotted by colleagues who will point out that "Doug is the only person to let this go by, coooooo".

On the other hand it could signal that I'm totally impoverished and need a pay rise. Now that would be nice but for those of us in the public sector (loyal servants as we are) there's not much chance of that although it should be said we have become very efficient with increased performance. Besides, there are very few opportunities for those swish lunches, hotels etc nowadays. Anyone buying this?

Option 3
Go ahead and sign the sponsor form but for a measley or more modest amount - maybe £1 or £2. Could be a good compromise but also a bit of a cowardly cop-out.

My decision: I took the middle ground with a modest sponsor amount - neither mean nor outrageously generous. Phew. I think that's probably about right and I'm keen to learn more about what's going on.